Julian, I feel exactly the same as you lately. That jaded feeling is something I can't seem to shake. Not sure why, but I'm just not excited for much any more. Dark Souls II is about the only thing legitimately on my radar and everything else falls somewhere in that same mindset you expressed. Playing it because I should.

I think there's a lot building towards that for me, but it's a funk I'd like to break out of at some point soon. I'm starting to feel like Stan...

It's funny you mention that, because I've totally been feeling like Stan lately, especially when I'm at work and am subjected to the top 40 pop "music" that's all the rage these days. Autotuning and dubstep are some of the worst things to happen to music since ever.

Like I said in the cast, I keep waffling between extremes. Like, I get super excited for games, and I think about them all day at work. But when I have time to play, I just don't. And maybe part of it is that, as I look at games with a more critical eye, I see more flaws and don't overlook them like I used to. There are some great games on the way that I'm looking forward to, but part of me wonders if I'll just end up backlogging them. I'm looking at you, Metal Gear Ground Zeroes...

I like the Robocop trilogy a lot, each of the 3 are great in their own ways. The 1st two are rated R and they're really intense and dark, but one thing I actually forgot over the years is that Robocop 3 was rated PG-13, and I like that movie a lot. It's less dark than the previous two but the third film is by far the weirdest and perhaps coolest. Robocop has a jetpack, there's a samurai ninja robot he fights, it's fucking bonkers but it all holds up well and delivers a fairly satisfying dramatic action story about the Detroit cops going to war against the OCP and their mercenary band of gang members and para-military. When I heard the remake is PG-13 I hated it at first because the first two movies were super dark and built on Robo taking down violent criminals and druglords in pretty graphic ways, but once I realized Robocop 3 wasn't rated R and how much I liked it, I came around. I'll be interested to see what they end up doing with the remake and if they touch on the same themes. The original trilogy did a pretty good job of exploring all kinds of "is he human or machine" themes, corporations taking control over goverment functions in a city, and other things.

I can relate to Julian saying his tastes might be changing a little bit. I don't know if my tastes are changing permanantly, or to what extent they might be changing, but I've been feeling a little different the last couple months. I haven't been able to get super into the shooters and rpgs that I've tried lately, and they're all lauded and were highly recommended to me. I've been going back to Spelunky every night and it's been pretty much satisfying all my gaming needs single-handedly for a couple months straight now. I started The Witcher 2 for 360 and for now I'm on the fence about if this is even a good game. I've heard plenty about how those games feel different and it can be tough to get accustomed to the flow and difficulty of them, so I'm still in a probationary phase (lol) where I'm thinking maybe I'm not playing it right, or maybe it eventually gets good.

I played the tutorial and everything in it made enough sense that I thought it wouldn't be hard to get into. There's two-handed melee combat, a set variety of magic spells to upgrade, traps you can set, bombs to throw, and knives to throw. It doesn't seem like there's any shields, all your blocking is done with the sword, and there's an ability to parry and riposte. Since Dark Souls is my favorite RPG and I like that combat a lot and think it's designed well, those terms bring a certain expectation to my mind, and Witcher 2 has been off the mark altogether. It took me till level 6 or so to simply unlock the ability to parry, it takes longer yet to unlock the ability to riposte, I still have to get that mechanic. I don't understand why those things aren't available from the get go, they seem like they're necessary in order to do combat. Without parry/riposte the combat is a cluster of clumsy diving, swinging, and often getting surrounded and killed, or chased down and killed. There's no flow to it and it's just a mess.

The entire prologue of Witcher 2 (which is a big meaty chunk of game, at least a few hours deep) is real crap to play and makes a nasty impression. The combat just makes me want to play Dark Souls where at least things make sense and work well. There's even a forced stealth section where you have to get out of a jail and all it makes me want to do is play Splinter Cell. Witcher 2 has just about every system and mechanic I tend to love in RPGs between parry/riposte, stealth, trap-setting, buffs for you weapons, robust crafting, and many other things but none of it has come together yet. It's mostly come across as, "I think it's great they're trying to do all this, but this execution isn't very good. Why do people think this game is so great?" I still have some hope, I'll wait to see if the game finally gets good, but as of now I still have yet to do a single satisfying thing mechanically. Story looks really good though, I'm into the cutscenes at least.

I'm going to go play more Spelunky.

Yeah, I try to give games the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it's hard to ask someone to stick with something for 10 or more hours to get to the good parts. Of course, I tell people to do just that with the first Mass Effect all the time...

I did like how this episode did go all over the place.  I also liked how you went into the topic of arcades, especially since I had just finished up Retronauts episode on the golden age of arcades...  or something.

When I think about this years releases there are plenty that I am excited for, but the one or two that I am EXCITED for come out closer to the end of the year.  Up until that point I think that this year will just drag on for as far as videogames.  Playing big releases for the sake of playing them.  Hopefully I will revisit a lot of older games, or play them for the first time....

Out of curiosity, what are those end of the year games you're waiting for? For me it feels like everything I'm excited about is front-loaded: Lightning Returns, inFAMOUS, Thief, MGS Ground Zeroes, Bravely Default, and FF X HD collection are the big ones for me.

The two games that I am genuinely excited about this year are Destiny and The Witcher 3.  I have been a fan of Bungie since Marathon, so that is why I want that game, and The Witcher 2 was one of my favourite games of the past generation.

This year does feel front loaded, but I think that is because I have no idea what is really coming past March.   While I do want to play inFAMOUS and MGS.  I have tempered my excitement because I never got past the first island in inFAMOUS and I have not gotten into a MGS game since 2004.  

I'm also looking forward to Witcher 3 and Dragon Age. I really feel like they aren't going to make it out this year, but I'm ready to be wrong, because I want them both. I know I'll play Destiny, but I'm so not a multiplayer guy, and it seems like that's the main focus of the game.